Everyone who sent in one or more cinquains this month will automatically be entered to win a personalized copy of WATER CAN BE.... (One entry per participant, not per poem.) You still have until tomorrow, May 31st, to send me your cinquain. For those who may be too bashful or bogged down to send in a cinquain, you may also enter to win Laura's book by leaving a comment below. If you contributed a cinquain and comment below you will earn two entries in total. Comments must be received no later than Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014.

The winner will be determined by Random.org and announced next Friday, June 6th, when we feature our new Spotlight ON interview and ditty challenge.

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. (Click HERE
for details.) If you would like to be in the running for a copy of Laura's new book, WATER CAN BE..., use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. (Click HERE
for details.) If you would like to be in the running for a copy of Laura's new book, WATER CAN BE..., use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

You see, B. J. loves words.
She has over 60 poems published in anthologies and magazines, and many of you will recall that she was also a semifinalist in the March Madness children's poetry tournament not long ago. B. J.'s poems from that tournament can be found on her website along with links to her blog, Blue Window, and several published works as well.

B. J. also loves toy poodles.
She currently has two – Clementine, a 16 year old sweetie with a heart of gold, and Bijoux, a one year old looney tune and a collector of socks, clean or otherwise. (At least B. J. knows who is responsible for the missing socks at her house!) JoJo, another member of her furry family who recently passed, was a rescue who had a repertoire of circus tricks.

Chou-Chou

And then there was Chou-Chou. Chou-Chou was a teacup poodle that B. J. had for many years. According to B. J., "Chou-Chou, despite her small size, had a truly Machiavellian mind and was always trying to outwit us." Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that she had a piece of carrot lodged up her nose for nine years, but then again, these facts may be entirely unrelated.

Sometimes B. J. even loves toying with words about toy poodles.
Oh happy day! This is one of those special times!

The Teacup Poodle

Our poodle, a Teacup, a wee pup, likes climbing inside of a teacup. When drinking our tea we check first to see so we don't drink our Teacup right up.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Marie who allowed me to use these precious photographs. If you like what you see, have a look at her website, Me 'n' My Teacups Poodles 'n' Partis, where there are oodles more!

Click here to take a look at the daily ditties I've featured so far this month. And don't forget, one lucky participant will win a copy of Laura's latest book, WATER CAN BE... in a random giveaway! Next Friday will be the end-of-month DMC wrap-up where you will get to see them all– I do hope yours will be among them.

Our Poetry Friday host today is Violet Nesdoly (whose cinquain, by the way, is featured here). Why don't you go see what other delights she has on tap in the Poetry Friday roundup?

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. (Click HERE
for details.) If you would like to be in the running for a copy of Laura's new book, WATER CAN BE..., use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. (Click HERE
for details.) If you would like to be in the running for a copy of Laura's new book, WATER CAN BE..., use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. (Click HERE
for details.) If you would like to be in the running for a copy of Laura's new book, WATER CAN BE..., use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Laura is poetry editor for Little Patuxent Review and editor of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. Laura was a finalist for the 2012 Rita Dove Poetry Award and was a 2013 Gettysburg Review Conference scholarship recipient. Laura works with young poets as a Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. Her blog, Author Amok, covers poetry and arts education.

Those are all good reasons to admire Laura, though I'd like to add a couple more. For one, her writing is fantastic. (Make sure to congratulate her on recently being offered representation by Stephen Barbara of Foundry Literary + Media!) She also comes up with the most amazing ideas for poetry series, like last month's Source Poems or February's Pantone Project. But it's because of Laura's work with students that I asked her to be a regular contributor to my blog. Thankfully, she said yes.

I look forward to learning much from Laura's experience as a Poet in the Schools, and hope that one day I might be able to do something similar in Florida. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Laura Shovan to Today's Little Ditty!

__________________________________________________

Last week, the poetry teacher in me was infuriated when this circulated around the Internet:

I have been working as a Maryland State Arts Council poet-in-residence for nearly fifteen years. Every time I walk into an elementary school classroom, I am amazed by both the command of language and the empathy that young writers are capable of in their poetry.

To suggest that this poem was written accidentally is to deny something significant.

Children are great writers. And no wonder! They use language every day in their speaking. They make similes when they are playing outside, and point out a cloud that looks just like a giant tortoise. They have classmates whose first and last names are alliterative. They know songs by heart, which means that even very young children are familiar with rhythm and rhyme.

Instead of assuming that this poem was an accident, let’s take a different approach. Let’s parse the poem and give the poet—who is naturally using the poetic techniques of every day speech—literary terms for what she has created.

We did the soft wind.

The poet is using a metaphor. He or she is also creating suspense in the first line. The reader has to wait to find out what the people in the poem are doing.

We danst slowly. We swrld aroned.

The poet picks up the s from “soft” in line one and carries it into the alliteration of this line. (BTW: The s sound appears in every line of the poem.) Notice the internal “l” sounds in “slowly” and “swirled.”

We danst soft.

Repetition of “soft” from line one and “dance” from line two.

We lisin to the mozik.

So far the poem has been tactile. This image appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing.

We danst to the mozik.

This line ties the senses together—the feeling of dancing combined with the sound of music.

We made personal space.

I guide young writers to leave the reader with a powerful idea in the last line. The poet has done that here. By ending with an image of the two people in the poem, the poet tells us that what’s important here is the closeness between the two dancers.

If this first grader were in one of my workshops, I would keep my comments to her simple. “Great job using alliteration!” and “I like how I didn’t know what the people were doing until the second line,” or “You added a sound image!”

The poet is already using these literary techniques, naturally. As a teacher, I am giving him names for the skills he is already developing. In class, we call these literary terms “fancy poetry words.”

Why is it important to know the fancy poetry words if children naturally use simile, metaphor, and repetition in their writing?

It is exciting, as an emerging writer, when an adult says, “Hey, you’re already good at this! It’s not an accident. You’ve got skills.” Those skills aren’t accidental. They come from listening, speaking, and the very human practice of making metaphor. Kudos to photographer Jason Gardner for noticing this excellent poem. He took the picture during a visit to a New York City elementary school.

I’d also like to recognize the unnamed after-school program leader who encouraged this first grader to write a poem. When we make time for poetry in the classroom, we are creating “personal space” for children to test out their emerging control of language. We are inviting them to dance with words.

__________________________________________________

Thank you, Laura! You are, indeed, a class act, and I eagerly anticipate your next visit to Today's Little Ditty.

And now, dear friends, I invite you to waltz over to Laura's own blog, Author Amok, to see what's on offer, and then fox trot over to Elizabeth Steinglass, Poet where Liz is rounding up the rest of today's Poetry Friday offerings.

But before you go...

We're already midway through May, so don't forget to send me your water-themed cinquain for Laura Purdie Salas' Ditty Challenge this month. Won't you join in the fun? Who knows, you might even win a copy of Laura's book, WATER CAN BE...! Use the contact form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem.

A note from Mayra: Peepers are frogs that winter over in vernal pools by the edge of woods. They come to life when temperature rises above 40 degrees in the spring. Man do they peep!!! The peep can be heard over one mile. Not bad for a 1 to 2 inch creature.

Laura Purdie Salas has challenged us to come up with a water-themed cinquain this month. Click HERE
for details. If you would like to join in the fun, use the contact
form in the sidebar to the right to send me your splashtastic poem!

About Me

I write children's poetry, picture books, and greeting card copy. My creative challenge is to bring out the natural musicality and rhythm of words and let them bounce around (and otherwise run amok) within the sphere of my imagination. Please visit my website at MichelleHBarnes.com

TLD Contributors

The following poet/authors contribute educational posts to Today's Little Ditty. Please click on their names to explore their series.

Ditty of the Month Club (DMC)

Submit your poem for the current month's challenge by clicking on the link at the top of the page. Click on the DMC star (above) for links to past challenges. Click "Spotlight ON Interviews" (below) for a complete list of interviews to date.

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In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), Today's Little Ditty does not seek personal information of children under age 13. If a child under age 13 chooses to comment on a post or otherwise participate on this blog (by submitting a poem, for example), he or she must do so via a parent or with written parental consent. Comments or poems submitted by children under 13 without parental consent will be deleted.